Shine Fights: Boxing and MMA Collide, Who Will Shine Mayorga Or Thomas?

Before MMA was considered a legitimate sport the questions were always the same: Who would win between a professional boxer and a mixed martial fighter?

As a sport, MMA is beyond the original stages of style vs. style match-ups; but in this case, fans are still clamoring to see the two pugilistic sports square off against each other.

The Shine Fights promotion has appropriately named their upcoming fight card "On May 15th World’s Collide" in which championship boxer Ricardo Mayorga faces off against UFC Veteran Din Thomas.

Shine Fights is making the jump to Pay-Per-View for the first time and hoping for big numbers. CEO Devin Price explained “The difference between MMA and boxing is in boxing people only care who’s fighting, and in MMA people care about the promotion. With what we’re doing we just want you to care about the guys on the card because that’s who it’s about.”

Shine wants to show itself as a quality product with this event. Devin Price added “We want to focus on the fighters, who’s on the card, and the quality of the card.”

The marquee matchup for this fight card is interesting to say the least. We have seen an influx of boxers transitioning over to MMA (Ray Mercer, James Toney, Butterbean and now former WBA/WBC Welterweight champion Ricardo Mayorga). When Mayorga was asked why he wants to compete in MMA he answered “The truth is it’s a sport I really like and the truth is I want to show that I can be the best.”

Former boxer Ricardo Mayorga spoke about his opponent “I’ve been a three-time world champion the only person who knows Thomas is his mother, nobody else knows him. He’s a fighter who doesn’t compare to me I’m superior to him, I’m going to knock him out in the first five minutes.”

When Thomas was asked about how he feels about boxers coming to MMA he replied “In no sport can you go from one sport to the next at a high level, but it does attract people to watching that sport and that’s what we need.”

When Thomas was asked how he saw the fight unfilding, he had a simple reply “The way I see it is I’m going to test him on his feet, I don’t need to test myself on my feet.”

This fight marks an exciting trend for the sport. Boxers and fans alike are being attracted to MMA.

Thomas, who has had a long and distinguished career in MMA spoke about the excitement he had when the Mayorga fight was posed. “I was really excited because at this point in my career I had done everything, but this is something that I’ve never done before and when I’m in my grave or sitting on my death bed I want to say look I’ve done it I’ve fought everybody.”

With such an intriguing match-up and so many possibilities, Devin Price offered his unique perspective. “The one thing about MMA is that you have to start on your feet, so Din’s going to have to start in Ricardo’s world but then as the fight goes on Ricardo will have to survive in Din’s world.”

With many believing that Mayorga’s punching power will determine the fight, his opponent commented further, saying “The most dangerous part for me would be if I stand toe-to-toe and slug it out.”

Mayorga simply added “If I don’t knock him out in two rounds I will leave the sport forever.”

The age old question of boxer vs. martial artist will be posed and answered on the night of May 15th. We look forward to a great night of fights and watching this new MMA promotion shine.